Technical Field
The embodiments discussed herein are related to a vehicle frame structure.
Related Art
Japanese Patent Application Laid-open (JP-A) No. 2008-213739 discloses a bumper structure equipped with extension portions that extend in a vehicle rearward direction from vehicle width direction outsides of a bumper reinforcement. Stoppers are disposed on vehicle width direction outsides of side members that support the bumper reinforcement. In this bumper structure, at the time of a so-called small overlap crash where a load from the vehicle front side is input to the vehicle width direction outside of one of the side members, the corresponding extension portion rotates inward in the vehicle width direction, the extension portion and the stopper come into contact with each other, and the crash energy is absorbed. Furthermore, at the time of a normal crash in which a load is input to the vehicle width direction inside of the side members, the extension portions virtually do not rotate inward in the vehicle width direction, so the extension portions and the stoppers are kept from interfering with each other and the crash energy is absorbed by the side members. It should be noted that examples of structures that absorb crash energy at the time of a small overlap crash where a load is input to the vehicle width direction outside of one of the side members include the structure disclosed in JP-A No. 2012-228907.
The structure disclosed in JP-A No. 2008-213739 has room for improvement in order to efficiently transmit the load at the time of a small overlap crash.